At the end of August, I was feeling in pain and worried about my leg. I had a clot many years ago and wondered if that was what was causing the pain this time. 

Hospital Stay 2018.

More of a worry to me was that four years ago, I had been rushed to a hospital in Barcelona. Close to death, I was treated for Necrotizing Fascitis and Sepsis, and a repeat of this was terrifying.

Quironsalud hospital.

I have private medical insurance, and Miguel, the agent who helped me get the insurance at Liberty Seguros, was able to get an ambulance to take me to the hospital. I was taken to this hospital as it was on the list of private hospitals I could use. I was taken in to see a Doctor, and after explaining my medical history, I had recently been diagnosed and treated for gout; he diagnosed Bursitis, gave me a lot of tablets, sent me home and told me to rest.

Second visit to Quironsalud Hospital.

After five days, I was in agony and really worried. I could hardly move and, unable to make the ambulance service understand my predicament, I managed to get into a wheelchair that I have in the apartment and wheeled myself down to the Chiringuito outside my apartment. I went here as I know the owner, Andrew, and he is fluent in Spanish. After a lot of conversation in Spanish, being transferred from one department to another and back again, Andrew was able to call an ambulance with my private medical insurance. Over two hours after my initial call, an ambulance arrived and took me back to the hospital.

This time, I saw a different Doctor who looked at my right leg in horror. I explained to her that the scars that she was looking at were old scars and not on the leg I was suffering pain in. She took note of all my previous medical history and immediately got a string of blood tests done, and I got moved to a triage unit to wait for the results. After a few hours, the results came back, and the Doctor came back to see me. She told me that I did have a clot or thrombosis and that they would be keeping me in the hospital.

I was taken to a very nice room for one person. Within an hour, I was taken to have chest and lung scans, as well as scans on my leg. Luckily, my chest and lungs were shown to be clear, but the nurse doing the Doppler scan on my leg showed me the scan, which showed two, possibly three clots in my leg.

That evening, a consultant came to see me. He told me to stop taking all of the medication I was already on and prescribed me new tablets, including twice-daily injections of heparin, directly into my teeny, weeny stomach to help decrease the clot in my leg. He explained that my leg basically had a clot the length of the leg as the separate clots had joined up.

Along with other clot-decreasing tablets that I took daily, he prescribed a new tablet for my acid reflux. I did, however, have a problem with the painkiller that he prescribed me, Nolotil. It has been banned in the UK, Ireland, USA, Australia and many Northern European countries. It is still used in all Mediterranean countries, and from what I have been able to find out, it badly affects everyone from outside the Mediterranean area. Still, it is acceptable for people born and living around the Mediterranean. Many different stories can be found out about it, but I refused it. Luckily, the consultant agreed with me and prescribed me a Tramadol / Paracetamol painkiller, which worked okay.

After nine days, the heparin injections in my stomach were stopped, and daily blood tests started. After twelve days, the consultant said that I could go home. He prescribed me Sintrom to decrease the clot further, which I will be on for a minimum of three months, Pantoprazole Cinfa for the reflux acid and Tramadol / Paracetamol painkillers. I also have to see my local doctor once a week to have blood tests to regulate the amount of Sintrom I have to take to decrease the blood clotting.

My full recovery will be a long-term thing, and I will most probably be on some of the tablets for life, but I am still here and glad to be here. Since leaving the hospital, I have sold my car. As most of you who know me know, I used to walk everywhere, and it was left in my garage all the time. I thought about it and decided to sell it and buy myself a full-size disability scooter.

I used to have problems walking and always knew that one day I may need to get one. This has just moved the purchase forward a bit. The sale of my car will give me the ability to get a nice mobility scooter. I am now waiting to have a charging point put in the garage at my apartment so that I can keep it there. I have been using a small scooter that I can charge and get up to my apartment, but it is not, unfortunately, big enough for me and the range on it is pretty tiny, enough to get to the local shop, but not along the beach and back, as I found out.

Thank you.

I want to say thank you to so many people. Thank you, Miguel, for calling my original ambulance. A huge thank you to Andrew for calling it the second time I needed it. I really was ill on this occasion and was very emotional, tired and in a lot of pain. Thank you to my friend Jan for waiting with me when she saw me waiting for the ambulance and for taking my apartment keys and checking on it for me.

A big thank you to my friends who took the time to come to see me in the hospital. As excellent a hospital as it was, it was very dull being on my own in a grey room with no view and no one to talk to. Thank you for bringing in underwear, shaving equipment and other washing items. Thank you for bringing in fruit, water and lots of naughty crisps, biscuits and sweets. A big thank you to Angelia, Wayne, Steve, Carol, Jill, Peter, Donna, Alan, Jacquie, Sandra and Pat for making the time pass quicker by visiting me. A great big thank you to Pat for picking me up from the hospital and driving me to get my tablets, then home and checking that I was safe when I got home.

I would also like to thank everyone who kept in touch with me via Facebook once I had my computer for your lovely comments, wishing me a quick return to health and all of the beautiful comments from people enjoying 'Agent Sharkys' stories from the hospital.

People often abuse Facebook, but for people like me, alone in a hospital, it was a lifeline and stopped boredom. I was lucky enough to be talking on a daily basis to people from my hometown in Los Alcázares in Spain, as well as friends and family in England, Wales, America, and Australia. I thank all of you for your kind comments.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Ian, who helped me when I got out and provided me with a mobility scooter to use for a few days. Unfortunately, it wasn't big enough for me in the long term, but it did allow me to get to the shop without having to ask someone to go for me.